AG/RES. 1794 (XXXI-O/01): The Western Hemisphere as an Antipersonnel-Land-Mine-Free Zone

June 5, 2001

(Resolution adopted at the third plenary session, held on June 5, 2001)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

HAVING SEEN:

The Annual Report of the Permanent Council (AG/doc.3970/01), in particular the section on the matters entrusted to the Committee on Hemispheric Security; and

The Report of the General Secretariat on the Implementation of Resolutions AG/RES. 1745 (XXX-O/00), "Support for Action against Mines in Peru and Ecuador," and AG/RES. 1751 (XXX-O/00), "Support for the Program of Integral Action against Antipersonnel Mines in Central America" (CP/doc.3432/01 rev. 1);

RECALLING its resolutions "The Western Hemisphere as an Antipersonnel-Land-Mine-Free Zone" [AG/RES. 1644 (XXIX-O/99), AG/RES. 1569 (XXVIII-O/98), AG/RES. 1496 (XXVII-O/97), and AG/RES. 1411 (XXVI-O/96)] and "Cooperation for Security in the Hemisphere" [AG/RES. 1744 (XXX-O/00)], which reaffirmed the goals of the global elimination of antipersonnel land mines and the conversion of the Western Hemisphere into an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone;

BEARING IN MIND the agreement made by the Heads of State and Government at the Third Summit of the Americas, to "strongly support the Third Meeting of State Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, to be held in September 2001 in Managua, Nicaragua, and the Review Conference of the 1980 UN Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, to be held in December 2001 in Geneva, as well as the efforts of the OAS to pursue the goal of the conversion of the Western Hemisphere into an anti-personnel-landmine-free zone";

REITERATING its profound concern over the presence in the Americas of thousands of antipersonnel land mines and other undetonated explosive devices;

RECOGNIZING WITH SATISFACTION:

The efforts being made by the Governments of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Peru to complete mine-clearing activities and the destruction of stockpiles, as well as programs of those countries and El Salvador aimed at the physical and psychological rehabilitation of victims and the socioeconomic reclamation of demined areas in their countries;

The important coordination work of the OAS General Secretariat, through the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy's Mine Action Team; and

The valuable contribution made by member states and permanent observers, as well as the support of the Committee on Hemispheric Security for the goal of making the Western Hemisphere an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone; and

TAKING NOTE of the exchange of experiences and opinions at the Regional Seminar on Stockpile Destruction of Antipersonnel Mines in the Americas, hosted by Argentina and Canada in collaboration with the OAS, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on November 6 and 7, 2000,

RESOLVES:

1. To reaffirm the goals of the global elimination of antipersonnel land mines and the conversion of the Western Hemisphere into an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone.

2. To urge member states that have not yet done so to ratify or consider acceding to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Ottawa Convention) as soon as possible to ensure its full and effective implementation.

3. Once again to urge member states that have not yet done so to become parties to the 1980 United Nations Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects and its four protocols, as soon as possible; and to request member states to inform the Secretary General when they have done so.

4. To encourage member states either to request or to provide assistance, as appropriate, to the OAS Mine Action Team through its programs on mine clearance, stockpile destruction, mine awareness, and victim assistance, in order to advance mine action in the region.

5. To request the Secretary General to continue to consider the possibility of developing new demining programs in the Americas to assist affected member states, upon request, in fulfilling their commitment to convert the Western Hemisphere into an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone.

6. To urge member states to participate in the Third Meeting of the States Parties to the Ottawa Convention, which will take place in Managua, Nicaragua, from September 17 to 21, 2001.

7. To invite member states to respond, as appropriate, to the three elements which constitute the "Managua Challenge" issued to the states of the Americas that have signed the Ottawa Convention: (a) to the six signatories that have not yet ratified the Convention, to do so in time for the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Ottawa Convention; (b) to all signatories, to complete their Article 7 transparency reports in time for the said Meeting; and (c) to all signatories, to completely destroy their stockpiles by September 2001.

8. To reiterate the importance of participation by all member states in the OAS Register of Antipersonnel Land Mines by April 15 of each year, in keeping with resolution AG/RES. 1496 (XXVII-O/97), and to commend member states that have regularly submitted their reports to that end.

9. To encourage member states that are Parties to the Ottawa Convention to provide to the Secretary General as part of their submissions to the OAS Register of Antipersonnel Land Mines, in keeping with resolution AG/RES. 1496 (XXVII-O/97), a copy of their Ottawa Convention Article 7 transparency reports; and to further encourage member states that are not yet Parties to the Ottawa Convention to provide similar information with their annual submissions.

10. To instruct the Permanent Council to report to the General Assembly at its thirty-second regular session on the implementation of this resolution.

The Office of Website Management, Bureau of Public Affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department.
External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.

Sign-in

Do you already have an account on one of these sites? Click the logo to sign in and create your own customized State Department page. Want to learn more? Check out our FAQ!

Because JavaScript is disabled, you can only sign in by entering your OpenID URL manually: